At $2k a month income, that barely will keep maintenance, insurance, and taxes on a house, a car gassed, insured and maintained, medicine/medical expenses, and food on the table. 

In areas that have deep freeze winters the maintenance can be much higher on a property than in a more neutral climate.

Not really; speaking in broad swaths, they tend to be high maintenance and made out of Tiffany glass.

My opinion would be to put in the 10-15k for upgrades, take care of any maintenance items now while your living there, rent out the place for a year and see how you like it.

Hello BP Forums, I've have lived in apartments where I usually let maintenance fix the issues when i am not there or at work.Now, renting out properties my property manager and handyman do not like doing that and wants someone there, even though the tenants work doing the day.I understand where the handyman is coming from, someone might blame him for stealing something.

Even longer if a maintenance plan is in-place to inspect them yearly and remove rust and refinish. 

As i do my calculations, in which i put 6% on CapEx, 6% on Repair / Maintenance, 2.3% property tax plus the PM fee (8% of gross rent plus full month placement fee), i almost never find any property that is cash flowing (even just a small number).

Do they routinely change out cast iron plumbing, aluminum wiring, test for lead-based paint?

NET of *all* expenses, management fee, maintenance, future maintenance - I think it's a realistic 3.5% yearly return and it seems like there is not a shortage of tenants, and rents have indeed risen.3.5% is certainly not my goal in life....but I figured this is better than 1.5% that cash earns in low-risk accounts, so why not 3.5% in a low risk house.  

Eventually, you might hit that number, especially with a lot of units in an area with really low vacancies and you're a marketing guru who can keep your vacancy rate below 3% (almost no one is), but initially, I'd expect it to be quite a bit higher, so it'll take a while before things are in the black.I think the standard number is 10% for vacancies alone and 5% for maintenance if you do your own PM, and an extra 3% if you don't.